Trial from God...or deserved consequences?

So, am I the only Christian who notices that other Christians will take a negative situation that they’re enduring and say it’s God “giving them a trial to get through in order to grow spiritually” when it’s actually just them dealing with the consequences of a bad choice THEY made on their own? For instance, if somebody is dealing with economic hardship and struggling to pay their bills, have food, and make their mortgage payment, how is that a “trial from God” when it’s due to having too much debt from having multiple credit cards?

 

Oh, I agree. If you bury yourself with a problem, sometimes you have to be the one to dig yourself out. I don’t believe that God is obligated to always come to our rescue.

 

Does God supernaturally intervene and solve all your problems, including the ones that are your fault, leaving you with nothing to do but sit back and watch Him do His thing? If so, consider yourself blessed. I know NOBODY, including myself, that God does that for.

 

I am of the opinion that trials are trials and whether a person believes they are from God or "of" evil, they are still trials.
Because some trials could cause a person to loose hope in God, His goodness or might, it is important to not make split decisions about what people share generally...but maybe ask them if they need to talk.

 

I just rather not assume too much about someone's life. I definitely saw there was a distinction between how believers treated their own, then treated the rest of society.

Your house burned down? This is a trial. Have faith, bring in the community, God will be glorified through healing.
1000 other people's houses burned down? Well, that's what America gets for allowing gay marriage.

But the way I figure it, for most people life is a miserable slog. An unasked for burden that grinds the soul to dust before shutting the light off either unexpectedly, or after a long painful deterioration. To exist is a decades long trial. Why not give people some benefit of doubt and offer them a hand anyway? So what if their stupid decisions landed them there. I've made stupid decisions that would make the needle on a stupid-o-meter spin like a fan blade.... and people still helped me.

So from that perspective... why does it matter?

 

I would say that illness/disease (of sin or what have you) is something that is more often treated over the long run, rather than instantly cured.
Scripture that comes to mind for us Christians:

Mark 2:16-17
And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

In verse 16 I see an obvious blow toward legalism-- in verse 17, an obvious observation of "need" involved for those who seek Christ to be healed (from themselves?)
It is never about how much righteousness I have obtained. (I do not get this "Christian "RIGHT" stuff at all. )
If anything I have obtained mercy from nothing I have done, personally. Anything good that comes from me, is because of God's influence, mercy, grace, goodness.

It is always about His righteousness.

That in between place where we ALL are that speak and live still today-- Can (IMO) only be lived by faith in Him and His goodness, no matter how much stuff is either thrown at us, or we throw at ourselves.

 

No assumption on my part. That’s just an EXAMPLE I chose to use, because I know that DOES happen. Many people, though not all, suffer financial hardship because they get themselves into debt because they try to live above their means. Many Americans, in particular, have the “buy now, pay later” mentality and get into debt in order to have things now that they can’t afford to buy outright. I personally know people in that EXACT situation.

I think you might be misunderstanding me. I’m not saying God WON’T help people in that predicament. I’m merely saying it’s not a “trial from God” because GOD didn’t put them in that situation for some kind of test or something. THEY put themselves in that situation by not handling their money well. Unless, of course, it can be shown that God made them, or influenced them to, make those bad choices that got them into their situation?

 

Not everyone who charges up credit cards does so to have "things" they do not need.
Credit card companies are predatory. Sharing this with others is helpful.

 

Credit cards: Hard lesson.

 

This is true. They are not “predatory,” but they sure DO like to charge a LOT in order for you to borrow from them...